Warning: This list contains spoilers for the Mad Max movies, including Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
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Summary
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George Miller may produce more spinoffs of
Mad Max
characters, like
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
, to explore their backstories. -
Despite
Furiosa’s
box office struggles, characters like Nux and Praetorian Jack could have engaging solo movies. -
Characters like Toast the Knowing and Mary Jabassa have the potential to lead their own
Mad Max
spinoff movies.
Following the release of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, visionary director George Miller may seek to produce more spinoffs depicting the backstories or future adventures of supporting characters from the Mad Max franchise. Furiosa showcases the origin story of Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron/Anya Taylor-Joy), who was taken from her family as a child and climbed the ranks to become one of the most feared road warriors in the Wasteland. This movie highlights the possibility of other engaging solo adventures, especially when there are many great Mad Max characters about whom the audience knows relatively little.
Despite Furiosa’s box office struggles, the first movie of the franchise to not focus on Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson/Tom Hardy) has lived up to the critical acclaim of its predecessors and may be considered a success. Furiosa and Mad Max:Fury Road in particular showcase characters who could carry their own movies; with Fury Road universally being considered the best Mad Max movie, characters from this adventure would be the most marketable. However, there are still some characters from the original trilogy that Miller could further explore in additional installments.
|
Movie |
Release date |
|---|---|
|
Mad Max |
1979 |
|
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior |
1981 |
|
Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome |
1985 |
|
Mad Max: Fury Road |
2015 |
|
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga |
2024 |
8 Praetorian Jack
From Furiosa
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Furiosa’s new character Praetorian Jack’s (Tom Burke) story parallels Max’s in some ways, making him an interesting addition to the franchise, serving a similar narrative role. Yet Max’s origin story has been built into the franchise from the beginning, explaining why he travels alone, focusing on his own survival. Despite his self-serving attitude, Max is often drawn into altruistic ventures, which makes him more like Jack, who says that he hopes to honor his parents’ memory by serving a noble cause — in the context of this scene, he is referring to helping Furiosa get home.
It is not known when Jack’s parents died and if he grew up alone in the Wasteland, similar to Furiosa and some other characters. However, his backstory likely includes a parallel fight for survival and impressing someone important to win the rank of Praetorian, responsible for leading supply runs to and from the Citadel. A movie about Jack runs the risk of being repetitive of Furiosa, and it might help to combine it with another character’s backstory, such as the Splendid Angharad (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) or Toast the Knowing (Zoë Kravitz).
7 Nux & The War Boys
From Fury Road & Furiosa
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Nux and the rest of this group lead complicated, difficult lives which could be the foundation for a interesting movie that shows more of how they are chosen and raised.
In addition to the in-development Mad Max 5, Miller has expressed interest in creating a movie about Nux (Nicholas Hoult), based on a novella Miller and his co-writer Nico Lathouris wrote covering the year leading up to the events of Fury Road. Nux’s complex character arc in Fury Road demonstrates the potential for a Mad Max spinoff that would thematically focus on the War Boys’ misguided loyalties and beliefs. The War Boys are selected at a young age to join the main military force of the Citadel and revere its leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne/Lachy Hulme).
The War Boys, including Nux, wholeheartedly believe that death serving Immortan Joe means they will be admitted to Valhalla, the hall of deceased heroes in Norse mythology. However, Nux has a crisis of faith when he believes that Joe’s anger towards Max will extend to him, and he will never reach Valhalla. Capable (Riley Keough) comforts him, and Nus begins helping the escapees. The storyline is somewhat rushed, and fleshing out Nux’s inner turmoil in another movie could serve the character, as he is killed in Fury Road’s final chase and will probably not appear in the sequel.
Meanwhile, a scene in Furiosa depicts a War Boy taking his own life simply to demonstrate his loyalty to Immortan Joe, which further illustrates the zealous nature of the belief system the War Boys are raised with. Nux and the rest of this group lead complicated, difficult lives which could be the foundation for an interesting movie that shows more of how they are chosen and raised. Additionally, a clip at the end of Furiosa’s credits of the bobblehead on Nux’s dashboard may be a hint that his movie is coming soon.
Related
Every Upcoming Mad Max Movie In Development
George Miller already seems to have planned out the multitudes of ways in which the Mad Max franchise can progress after Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
6 The Splendid Angharad
From Fury Road
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Fury Road largely focuses on Immortan Joe’s “Wives” escaping to freedom, aided by Furiosa, after being imprisoned in the Citadel and forced to bear Joe’s children. Furiosa reveals more about these women’s lives in the Citadel, while the de facto leader of the five who appear in Fury Road is the woman known as the Splendid Angharad.“Splendid” is easy to interpret, while Angharad is a Welsh name associated with royalty that translates into “a much loved one.” Angharad is said to be Joe’s favorite; however, her grandeur and sociability are how she inspires the other Wives to flee.
The other women state that Angharad instilled in them that they are not objects. She is very brave, risking herself to cover the War Rig as she knows Immortan Joe will not harm her and her unborn child. Huntington-Whiteley and the Mad Max comics have revealed more details about Angharad’s life that allude to her character arc of becoming a resolved leader. Overall, she is a very interesting character who could lead a Mad Max spinoff that showcases survival through emotional strength rather than combative skills. Angharad is also killed in Fury Road, preventing her from appearing in sequels.
5 “Warrior Woman” & Pappagallo’s Tribe
From The Road Warrior
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In The Road Warrior, Max comes across a community of several families living in an oil refinery, led by Pappagallo (Michael Preston), who are being threatened by bandits who want to acquire their stores of gasoline. The group includes several distinctive characters, one of whom is Virginia Hey’s unnamed character, listed as “Warrior Woman.” Like most of the people in her community, she is given no backstory and little characterization besides being skilled at archery and driving, with a reserved and cautious persona.
However, she could also be the main character of a spinoff if Miller wanted to do more with characters from his original trilogy. As few personal details about her have been revealed, Miller is free to develop any backstory for her. Additionally, The Road Warrior states that after the events of the movie, this group reached an abandoned resort in Northern Australia and became known as the “Great Northern Tribe.” These events also possibly constitute an interesting origin story, featuring updated versions of several other supporting characters from The Road Warrior.
4 Immortan Joe & The Citadel
From Fury Road & Furiosa
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Furthermore, any Mad Max spinoff does not have to be a hero’s origin story. Immortan Joe is an evil character, but the circumstances of the rise of his regime would still make a compelling movie and reveal more about power struggles in the Wasteland. Neither Fury Road nor Furiosa detail how Joe found or gained control over the Citadel, amassing an army of devoted War Boys who would do anything he asked. According to the Mad Max comics, Joe is a former colonel who originally led a gang following the collapse before discovering Gastown, the Bullet Farm, and the Citadel.
Immortan Joe could be the main character in an interesting villain origin story that prompts philosophical questions about the franchise’s villains, a route that Furiosa goes down with Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Additionally, Joe’s spinoff movie could also be combined with the backstories of other supporting characters, as he plays a major role in several of their arcs. A prequel focusing on the rise of the Citadel could include Jack or any of Immortan Joe’s wives, creating a multi-character backstory movie.
3 Toast The Knowing
From Fury Road
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Max and Furiosa are both regarded as larger-than-life figures in their world, but Toast could be more of an everywoman in the franchise’s overarching lore.
Kravitz’s “Toast the Knowing” was originally conceptualized as “the brainy one” among the five Wives in Fury Road, and her character developed from there (via lithub.com). She is actually named after Shyam “Toast” Yadav, a visual effects data wrangler for Fury Road, at Kravitz’s request (via IndieWire). Toast is practically helpful in Fury Road, taking inventory of their weapons and ammunition while Furiosa and Max drive. According to Lathouris in Graphic 2015: Mad Max: Fury Road – Creating the Apocalypse, Toast spent some time traveling the Wasteland before being captured, which is why she is more familiar with cars and weapons.
Therefore, there is a period where Toast is roaming the Wasteland, trying to survive, which could be the basis of another Mad Max movie. Additionally, Kravitz has proven herself time and time again as capable of leading an action movie and could join the ranks of Theron and Taylor-Joy as a leading Mad Max heroine. Kravitz can play the part of a more down-to-earth character who showcases another perspective of this setting. Max and Furiosa are both regarded as larger-than-life figures in their world, but Toast could be more of an everywoman in the franchise’s overarching lore.
Related
How Many Wives & Kids Immortan Joe Has In The Mad Max Movies
Immortan Joe was obsessed with having a male heir to his empire, which meant he had an astonishing number of wives and children throughout Mad Max.
2 Aunty Entity
From Beyond The Thunderdome
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Probably the most iconic character from the original Mad Max trilogy (besides Max) is Tina Turner’s Aunty Entity, largely due to the status of the singer-actress who plays her. As seen in Beyond the Thunderdome, Aunty is the ruler of Bartertown and founder of the Thunderdome, a gladiatorial arena that, in theory, serves the common good by restricting conflict to this one contained location. Discussing the development of Aunty’s character, Miller said: “[…] today’s tyrant is yesterday’s hero,” and that she built Bartertown with good intentions but became too attached to power (via multiglom.com).
Aunty could also be the lead of a villain origin story that philosophizes on the nature of power in Mad Max’s world, showing Aunty as an ambitious young woman trying to create some order in the Wasteland — much like Max — and her rise/descent into becoming an absolute queen. She outright says that she was alive at the time of the collapse, making her one of the people to adapt quickly to the new order and use the change in circumstances to her advantage. The simple “how” of this story could be made into a movie without considering broader thematics.
However, Aunty is also still alive at the end of Beyond the Thunderdome, simply choosing to let Max go free because she is impressed by his bravado and grit. This means that Aunty’s spinoff movie could pick up after the events of Beyond the Thunderdome, showcasing how she strives to hold onto her power and exploring the psychology of her character. Whether the movie is a prequel or sequel, recasting Aunty would be a wild Hollywood event to follow.
1 Mary Jabassa & The Many Mothers
From Fury Road & Furiosa
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Furiosa was raised in the Green Place, a rare oasis of agriculture and freshwater in the Wasteland, among the predominantly female community known as the Vulvalini or the Many Mothers. It is revealed that the Green Place was wiped out by pollution in Fury Road, devastating Furiosa. Furiosa shows Furiosa’s mother warrior Mary Jabassa (Charlee Fraser) engaging in a solo pursuit after the bikers who kidnapped her daughter, resulting in her being killed by Dementus. The Many Mothers could also be the focus of a prequel, with Mary Jabassa situated as the protagonist.
The Vulvalini have formed their own culture, including distinctive phrases, gestures, and clothing, even though they cannot have existed as a community for more than a few decades. Their society appears to be slightly pre-modern, but they are all fairly confident with advanced weaponry and vehicles. However, these alleged contradictions only prompt questions about how and why they adopted these specific things into their way of life. Therefore, Mary Jabassa’s story, combined with the origins of the Many Mothers, is one of the most promising ideas for a Mad Max spinoff.
Mad Max
Mad Max is an Australian post-apocalyptic franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. The first three films star Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky, a former police officer who seeks revenge after his family is murdered. Tom Hardy took over the role for 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, which was followed by Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga starring Anya Taylor-Joy as Furiosa.
Movie(s) Mad Max , Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior , Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome , Mad Max: Fury Road , Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga , Mad Max: The Wasteland First Film Mad Max Cast Mel Gibson , Joanne Samuel , Hugh Keays-Byrne , Steve Bisley , Tim Burns , Roger Ward , Tom Hardy , Charlize Theron , Nicholas Hoult , Rosie Huntington-Whiteley , Riley Keough , Zoe Kravitz , Abbey Lee , Courtney Eaton , Anya Taylor-Joy , Chris Hemsworth , Tom Burke , Alyla Browne Character(s) Max Rockatansky , Immortan Joe , Imperator Furiosa , Rictus Erectus , Angharad , The People Eater , Corpus Colossus , Toecutter , Nux , Dr. Dementus Video Game(s) Mad Max (1990) , Mad Max (2015)
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Source: lithub.com, IndieWire, multiglom.com